Once Proud Men
by Shodan Malkovich
Summary: Doesn't follow any particular storyline, some technical specs are a little off, but based around the intensity of 'Mech combat and harsh life of a mercenary just trying to make a living. Contains alcohol, foul language, and hints at adult themes.
1. Chapter 1: Always Worse

Once Proud Men

Chapter 1:

The first thing you learn after 10 years as a Mechwarrior pilot is that it will always get worse. The second thing you learn, is that it probably will.

Cyrus Prime is the leader of his squad or lance as they call it in this part of the galaxy, he pilots a lumbering Madcat Mark II, which stands 60 feet tall, with large gun mounts for arms and two large missile racks on its back, it can carry 65 tons of weapons and ammunition and carries an additional 30 tons of armor. This Madcat is no easy foe, and yet Cyrus Prime sat in its cockpit staring in awe at the status screen of his beloved 'Mech. A heat sync had been damage in the rear of this behemoth, this is no big problem by itself, the reason Cyrus Prime was horrified, was that this particular heat sync, had melted into the volatile reactor that powers his 'Mech, and the combination would soon detonate, leveling anything in an 85 foot radius. Again, this wouldn't be too hazardous; he can easily eject and buy a new one. The problem lies in the battalion of heavy tanks, and their air support that he was currently engaged with. He was fighting Clan members, and clan members are renowned for chasing down 'Mech pilots and killing them, this is considered "dirty" in a galaxy of honor.

Tanks and aircraft are easy targets to a 'Mech pilot, the rest of his lance could dispatch the battalion with ease, but they are 35 miles to the north of this engagement assisting the contract holder.

"Cyrus lance this is Cyrus Prime, I'm forced to eject, uploading GPS to Emergency Pod and jettisoning," Cyrus announced to his squad and Breaker. Breaker watched over missions via satellite, she sends backup, updates mission data, sets navigation points, and acts like an all-around secretary.

"Roger that Cyrus Prime, sending a rescue team to retrieve your pod, good luck sir," Breaker responded in her smooth voice, and with that Cyrus deployed the safety shield and ripped the eject cord. His pod shot out of his Madcat and soared 200 feet into the air. The secondary thrusters kicked in and shot Cyrus towards his team.

"Cyrus lance this is Cyrus Prime, I am currently flying toward the rest of the lance, I'm going to need pickup immediately," Cyrus announced during this relatively smooth flight, the hills on this planet were swarming with marauders who would love nothing more than to take an ace 'Mech pilot hostage and turn him or her over to the highest bidder, and Cyrus was renowned in these parts for stomping marauder plans, they would kill him as revenge.

"Cyrus Prime this is Watchmen, in transit, rest of Cyrus lance is preoccupied with a medium lance. Eta: Five minutes," Cyrus heard back through his radio. Watchmen was the rookie of the group, he had only seen three other missions before, none of which held more combat than a handful of tanks and a squad of helicopters, he was probably glad to disengage. But Watchmen always knew where his alliances lay, this was his first job as a team, and he liked the feel of it.

Cyrus' pod lurched upwards as the last of his fuel depleted, he plummeted toward a hillside close to the forests where the brigands were watching from. He landed with a loud crash and a dazed Cyrus Prime left his pod. He grabbed his pistol and short wave radio and switched the radio on. A mile away he could see Watchmen's Orion 'Mech appear over a nearby hill. Cyrus grabbed his binoculars and watched the action.

The Orion is a large Assault-Class humanoid shaped 'Mech, it is heavier than Cyrus' Madcat, but not as maneuverable, it carries Long Range Missiles that fire in salvos of 15, or LRM15's as its long range weapon in addition to Heavy lasers and an Autocannon.

"Cyrus Prime this is Watchmen, I'm picking up three Nightshade attack planes, must of followed you here, moving to engage," Cyrus radio cackled as he took cover in the ruins of his pod. The pod would be the target but it could absorb a volley of the Long Range Missiles that the Nightshades carried. Cyrus looked out as the Orion fired it's impressive LRM15's and hit two of the three Nightshades. The third Nightshade targeted the Orion and flew overhead and dropped a large blinking beacon on the Orion.

"Get out of there Watchmen, you've been tagged!" Cyrus yelled into his radio, the beacon was a marker for every Assault-Class 'Mech, the 450mm Long Toms. A single well placed shot can destroy a 'Mech's reactor and the pilot with it. But before Watchmen could eject, three loud and earthshaking hits rumbled the earth. All three shots hit the Orion's right side, destroying the right arm, severely damaging the right leg, and leaving a large, gaping hole where the arm connected to the torso.

"Holy shit! Watchmen! Are you alive?" Cyrus yelled into the radio. Watchmen was young, too young to fall victim to such a dirty tactic.

"Y-yes sir… Orion's pretty beat up though," Watchmen replied slowly.

"Are you injured?" Cyrus quickly asked.

"Just a bit shaken up sir, what was that?" Watchmen asked regaining himself.

"Long Toms, there's probably a 'Mech or two loaded up with 'em, we'll find the bastards and give back what they did to Orion," Cyrus said with anger. All the 'Mechs on the field were bought by Cyrus. Cyrus worked for nearly a year to buy all the 'Mechs on the field, each one was special to him, each one unique. They were not stock, each was heavily customized to the pilots' liking and fine tuned through days and days of the pilot crawling though every nook and cranny of the 'Mech adjusting it to turn and move the way that becomes one with the pilot. Cyrus grinded his teeth at the thought of his prize 'Mech destroyed miles away, but regained himself again and picked up the radio.

"You need to come pick me up Watchmen, these hills are crawling with brigands and marauders, I can't wait for rescue," Cyrus said calmly.

"Sir, I'm carrying supplies for Lokdrad on board, I'm packed," Watchmen said nervously, not knowing what to do.

"That bombed out city to the East?" Cyrus said getting frustrated.

"Yes sir, the contractor told me to carry these, made me jettison a PPC for it," Watchmen said back shakily. He could tell his boss was becoming more and more angry at the current situation. The cockpit couldn't carry more than one person, and the cargo bays were full to the brim with crates of supplies.

Cyrus sighed heavily and looked down shaking his head, "Great, well I need to get off the ground and moving, any suggestions?"

"Well you could hang onto the service ladder sir," Watchmen said without thinking.

"A service ladder… a ladder suspended 50 feet in the air… in a combat zone," Cyrus said with his hand over his eyes in disbelief at the way things were looking, "Fine… Fine… I'll do it, just temporary 'till rescue shows up right?" Cyrus said defeated, "Power down your 'Mech so I don't burn myself on the heat syncs would'ja?"

Watchmen powered down and Cyrus climbed the service ladder to the remaining shoulder of the Orion, and found a maintenance hatch, the fit was small but it had to do, the marauders would snipe him from the forest for sure if he remained in the open, "Watchmen, patch me through with base," Cyrus said through his radio, "And why is it so hot in the maintenance bay?"

"Sorry sir, I guess the Long Toms destroyed the cooling unit for that sector of Orion, and I'll patch you through now," Watchmen said through the intercom of the 'Mech. After a few moments Watchmen announced "You're patched through on Frequency 76.8 sir,"

"Thank you Watchmen," and with that he turned the radio to 76.8 and called out, "Cyrus Prime to base, come in Breaker,"

"Breaker here, can you give me a sitrep?" Breaker's calming voice chimed through the radio.

"Situation is as follows: My Madcat is destroyed, Orion is heavily damaged, no word yet from the rest of lance, I'm down to shortwave patched through Orion's communication system, you'll have to contact the rest of Cyrus Lance to see how they're doing," Cyrus said as he popped the hatch open for a breather.

"Cyrus Lance has completed the mission but has been unable to contact or locate the Orion, is the locator damaged on Orion?" Breaker asked after a few moments.

"It's possible, but how can we talk to you and not the rest of our lance?" Cyrus asked irritated.

"No clue sir, perhaps because this is a satellite feed and not radio, rescue teams are delayed due to a problem we're having with the launch bays. Expect support in three to four hours," Breaker always had a way of making bad news sound so pleasing with her calming voice, but no amount of her voice could calm Cyrus at this point, but the moment passed and Cyrus regained himself once again.

"And let me guess… I'm to wait here because the locator is out?" Cyrus asked through gritted teeth.

"Unfortunately so sir, good luck, Breaker out," and with that, all communications were stopped with base, and Cyrus' stomach growled with hunger.

With no food, no air, and no rescue, this was going to be a long day for Cyrus Prime.


	2. Chapter 2: Alcohol and Other Comforts

**Once Proud Men**

Chapter 2: Alcohol and Other Comforts

Cyrus Prime sat alone in his small office/sleeping quarters mix of a room onboard his small docking ship aptly named Mouse. The last contract had gone well, as well as it could have that is. He received a very heavy reward for scaring the invading force out of Lokdrad, salvage teams recovered a large stash of LRM launchers and Autocannon 15's, and they even managed to recover most of what remained of an Atlas 'Mech. However, he had lost his beloved Madcat Mark II, he had the schematics on-hand as to exactly as he tuned it, but it always hurt, Watchmen's Orion 'Mech was crippled and would be out for at least two weeks in the shop, and he would have to spend millions of C-Bills to dock in orbit of this rundown planet.

Cyrus contemplated all of this as he browsed through the available contracts looking for an easy delivery contract or something that he could do in the meek 20-ton Flea 'Mech he acquired in a bet. It carried a small pulse laser, as close to an energy machine gun as one can get, not strong enough to singe even the weakest of light armor. The Flea can't handle much damage, is only reliable against infantry and vehicles, and the radio needs to be held into place to work properly.

"'Escort disliked shop owner through city, has been known to cheat customers out of money with fake weapons and 'Mech gear, reward will be 6 LRM20's and 3 ERPPC's'… right," Cyrus said flipping through the low-paying contracts with disapproval, "'Delivery driver needed to covertly move 15 tons of weaponry to contract's client, not held responsible for any legal repercussions, highly advised to avoid city police at all costs…' well that's a tempting offer," Cyrus said aloud as he printed the contract and saved the contact number, but he looked again at the contractor notes, "'Legal check required before taking contract' damnit! A trap," Cyrus yelled as he slammed his fist on the table. Times are rough when your star 'Mechs need repair. Cyrus looked at the Medium-Risk contract category and nearly leapt out of his seat as he read aloud in a low aggravated voice, "'Bounty on Cyrus Prime, 45 million C-Bills if brought alive, wanted for the humiliation of tribesmen on the outskirts of Lokdrad, bounty drops to 2.5 million if brought dead to the Red Trap Clan Hall. Be advised, Cyrus pilots a Madcat Mk.II that is out of commission for two weeks' how did they know!?" Cyrus yelled as he threw the computer tablet on his desk, put on a black shirt and ran down the hall to the ready room where his team was likely watching the light 'Mech tournament.

Cyrus nearly kicked open the door out of betrayed frustration, "Ok, which one of you is working for Red Trap?" The team looked at him with shock.

"What the Hell are you jabbering about?" Mario "Maverick" Tell asked. Mario was a hot head and did not like being called a traitor often.

"Someone just put a 45-Mill C-Bill bounty on me, and knows very clearly the state of my 'Mech!" Cyrus yelled at the group of five sitting around the television.

Sitting to the left of Maverick on their couch was Rebecca "Ivy" McPlovich, it was rumored she had a shady past, but left that past behind her when she was picked up off the streets by Cyrus three years back. She was drinking a stiff drink to help with her stiff leg. She spoke up, "I would report to you any treachery in the ranks sir, and after all, you are my meal ticket and savoir,"

Cyrus cooled down at this notion, she was right, without him, she wouldn't have food, and she did swear her life to him after their first mission together. After a moment or two, he sat down and grabbed a bottle that Ivy had set aside, "You're right, what are you drinking?"

"A very dry Kicker, want me to pour you one?" Ivy asked and pulled a glass from beside her.

"Yes, dry as well," Cyrus responded and licked his lips. A Kicker is a very potent alcoholic drink that kicks as hard as it tastes, it's been known to even bring unconscious pilots into action. Ivy handed him the drink and reached for ice.

"No no no, this is going to be a warm kicker, gonna need the confidence for this mission we're all about to do," Cyrus said and gulped down half of the drink and cringed.

"What do you mean 'we'?" Romulous Radar asked? Radar never did anything without good pay. He always did the missions assigned to him but always gave gruff about it. He feared the mere presence of Cyrus, but disguised it as attitude.

Cyrus gulped down the last half of his drink and slammed it down cringing again, "We're going to rough up the Red Traps, figured maybe I'd launch a Gauss round into their Tribe Hall," Cyrus said with conviction, he was always a lightweight when it came to alcohol and it was beginning to show. He changed the television to a tactical mode and brought up a map of the surrounding tribes of Lokdrad. He found the Red Trap Tribe and zoomed in.

"Right… here," Cyrus said pointing to a long, single-story building, "Is the hall, I'll ask… nicely… for him to take the contract off and fire a round directly at the building, the tribesmen have been known to carry light 'Mechs as well. We'll probably attract the attention of their allies, but this is far too important. I refuse to be hunted," and with that Cyrus marked drop-off points and uploaded it to mission data.

"Sir… isn't this just a little rash? I mean we could just set up a counter-contract on them, sure we'd have to pay off close to 50 Mil on bounty money, but this is dangerous!" Rakeer Maldrid said sitting up from his quiet position. Rakeer has more political experience than most men do, he is usually the level headed fighter, knows when to back off, and knows when to thrust himself into an opening. Rakeer usually keeps to himself though, and the room stopped and looked at him, caught off-guard by his input.

"We don't have 50 million C-Bills to throw around Rakeer, and that would only let them think they can keep throwing contracts around. Where did they get that kind of money anyway?" Cyrus asked and nearly fell over trying to get to the door.

"They run the Lokdrad drug-trade Cyrus," Breaker said calmly. She had been standing the doorway with her brown hair loose around her shoulders. She wore a blue robe and held a cup of coffee with her free hand. Cyrus gazed upon her for a moment longer than he would have without the help of a Kicker, Breaker looked back at him and he looked away. Ivy giggled which made Cyrus fold his arms and blush.

"You're like a 16 year-old with a crush when you drink Cyrus I swear!" Ivy said while laughing hysterically. She limped over and ruffled the leader's hair. He was their leader, but he was also a person, not much of a person because of his line of work, but a person all the same.

Cyrus left the room after another Kicker and stumbled drunkenly through the halls of his own ship. He thought about Breaker in that lovely blue robe with her hair flowing over her shoulders, her long, slim legs and at that moment ran headlong into the tiered and weary Breaker who seemed to be stumbling just as much as Cyrus.

"Well… if it isn't Mr… Mr.Cyrus," Breaker said and tripped on herself trying to stand upright, "You know, you always know how to make me feel like a pretty… pretty woman you know that?" Breaker said and fell into Cyrus' arms.

"Well you sure know how to… how to be a pretty woman," Cyrus said back with a blush and held the drunk Breaker in his arms.

"You know, we shouldn't be doing this Cyrus," Breaker said as she rested her head on his chest, "We could get in a lot of trouble… you… you could make the team…j-jealous, or we could get too… too attached, I don't want to hurt you…"

"Are you crying Breaker?" Cyrus asked and managed to slide the ground with Breaker in his arms still.

"No… I… I don't cry, I'm too old to cry over stupid stuff," and she sobbed heavily into Cyrus chest.

"It's ok Breaker, I won't die. I never die," Cyrus said softly as he tilted her head up and wiped a tear off of Breaker's soft face, "I can't die…"

The two held each other quietly until they fell asleep. Many hours later, Cyrus woke up and woke up Breaker, "Breaker," he whispered close to her, "Breaker, you need to wake up,"

Breaker slowly opened her eyes, her arms were still around Cyrus and the two of them were still sitting against a wall of the ship, she looked at Cyrus for what felt like hours. She had soft brown eyes looking into Cyrus' emerald green eyes. Cyrus' short, black hair was ruffled from the night before, and his five o'clock shadow was evident, but Breaker didn't care, she did what she did only because of the alcohol, but she had felt this way for a while. To her, Cyrus was perfect.

"So… what do we do about this?" Cyrus said after precious minutes of staring at each other, "I'll respect whatever decision you make,"

"I say… we go with it," Breaker said with a smile, "But we don't tell people, I don't want there to be tension," Breaker said and managed to make herself let go of Cyrus and stand up, "By the way, because we're a little more close, when we're in private, call me Isabel," she straightened her robe and groggily looked about, "Where's my coffee mug?"

"You didn't have it last night," Cyrus said and slowly picked himself up, "Did you leave it in the break room?"  
"Maybe," Isabel said and started towards the ready room and looked back at the obviously hung-over Cyrus, "You coming?"

"Yeah, I'm coming, got a lot of work to do in two week's time," Cyrus said and walked with Isabel to the ready room.

"Still want to do that silly plan while sober?" Isabel asked slowly as they reached the room, she opened it and the two looked inside, the sight was remarkable.

"Dear me Ivy, I see you and Watchmen were having fun," Cyrus said at the sight of Ivy laying on top of Watchmen, "Ivy?"

Ivy looked at Cyrus with tiered eyes, "Wha?" She looked down and saw where she was and slowly got up, "Not what it looks like, Watchmen came in after you two left and…" she stopped for a minute to think, playing with her red hair, "I can't remember to be honest,"

"Well I won't ask," Cyrus said and playfully nudged Ivy, "Wake up the team, we need to prep for the raid on the Red Traps, get me a list of any weapons you'll need from the Free Market by 3:30 alright?"

"Yes sir," Ivy said and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She kicked Watchmen in the ribs and he moaned.

"Gonna be a good week… Breaker," Cyrus whispered to Isabel in the chaos of Ivy awaking the team in her violent manner, "I can feel it,"


End file.
